The present invention relates generally to vending machines.
Although the basic advantages of vending machines are significant, prior art vending machines have several disadvantages when compared to traditional merchandising.
For example, vending machines do not actively sell to customers as a salesperson would. Thus, vending machines do not strongly induce customers to purchase anything in particular. Vending machines may not effectively sell low demand items or items of inferior quality. In addition, vending machines may not effectively sell a product for an appropriate price. Although conventional vending machines allow an operator to adjust the prices of products, such operators often have imperfect information regarding appropriate prices.